A short comparison of cost, durability and moisture resistance — from a fitter's perspective.
Laminate — cheap, but not everywhere
Laminate is still the cheapest entry-level option, but in bathrooms and kitchens we strongly prefer LVT or SPC vinyl. The reason is simple: laminate doesn't tolerate standing water and swells within months in wet zones.
In high-traffic living rooms with kids, we go for AC5-class laminate. Cheaper grades scratch quickly from chairs and toys and lose their looks within a year.
SPC — the wet-zone champion
SPC vinyl has a stone-plastic composite core — it's rigid, fully waterproof, and better at deadening footstep noise than standard LVT. Wear layer thickness is critical: the minimum is 0.3 mm, and for heavily used rooms we recommend 0.55 mm.
Cheaper products with a thin wear layer look twenty years old after just two. The price difference pays for itself in the first year of use.
Installation — the hidden costs
Material cost is only part of the equation. Underlay, adhesive (for glue-down vinyl), and installation time all add up.
Click-lock SPC vinyl can be laid directly over underfloor heating and on uneven substrates with a tolerance of up to 3 mm per 2 m — which in older Łódź apartments is often the decisive advantage. Laminate demands a perfectly level screed, and every millimetre of deviation shows up as a squeak.
